Gaius Gracchus

Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (154 BC-121 BC) was the Tribune of the Plebs of the Roman Republic from 123 to 122 BC and, along with his brother Tiberius Gracchus, one of the founding leaders of the Populares. He was inspired to become a populist politician by his brother's murder in a political riot in 133 BC, and he attacked the privileges of the Roman Senate and stood up for the common man, earning the ire of the Senate. In 121 BC, the Senate gave Lucius Opimius the authority to overthrow Gracchus due to concerns that he was becoming a tyrant, and Gracchus fled Rome before committing suicide due to a lack of support in returning to power.

Biography
Gaius Gracchus was born in 154 BC, the son of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and the younger brother of Tiberius Gracchus. He was heavily influenced by his older brother's reformist policies, and the death of his brother in a political riot in 133 BC inspired Gracchus to be fearless in his speeches and to launch judicial reforms directed at his brother's murderers. In 126 BC, he became a quaestor in Sardinia and became known for his oratory, and he served as Tribune of the Plebs in 123 and 122 BC. He passed laws which prohibited deposed magistrates from returning to power, established the right of citizens to prosecute a magistrate who had exiled citizens without a trial, declared capital punishment courts to be illegal, provided for the free issuing of clothing and equipment to Roman Army soldiers, shortened the term of military service and forbade the draft of boys under 17, unsuccessfuly sought to extend Roman citizenship to all Latin citizens and Latin citizenship to all of Rome's Italian allies, and faced the forum when speaking (thereby turning his back on the Roman Senate).

Downfall
The Senate saw Gaius' popularity and legislation as threats to its privilege and position, and, when Gracchus' rival Scipio Aemilianus suddenly died, Gracchus was suspected of murder. After another political murder occurred, the Senate granted Lucius Opimius the right to rid the state of tyrants, and they commanded all of the equites to arm themselves. Gaius and his ally Fulvius Flaccus refused to surrender themselves to Opimius for trial, and Fulvius and Opimius' men began to battle in a political riot. Fulvius and his son were discovered hiding in an abandoned bath or workshop and were executed, and Gaius fled to the Temple of Diana, despairing of the bloodshed and wishing to have no part in it. Gaius found no support as he fled from Rome, so he committed suicide in a sacred grove; he was beheaded, his body thrown into the Tiber, his property confiscated and sold to the public treasury, and his household looted by his rivals.